Robert Ley
1890 – 1945 German Head of the German Labour Front
Nazi labor boss who controlled the workforce after independent unions were crushed.
- Religion
- Catholic background; anti-clerical and a fervent Nazi who treated the party creed as an all-encompassing worldview.
- Affiliations
- Nazi Party; leader of the German Labour Front (DAF) and the 'Strength through Joy' program. No occult ties.
Ley ran the German Labour Front, the compulsory body that replaced trade unions, and organized leisure schemes to bind workers to the regime. Erratic and heavy-drinking, he presided over a corrupt apparatus that also exploited forced labor. Charged at Nuremberg, he hanged himself in his cell in 1945 before trial.
Connections
- associate of Adolf Hitler — A loyal if unstable functionary in the party hierarchy.
- rival of Albert Speer — Competed over control of labor and housing policy.
In the timeline
- 1945 Robert Ley commits suicide before Nuremberg trial central figure